You may have read a lot about how we need to build up momentum in our lives in order find success. What does it mean to gain momentum? What benefits does having momentum give us in life?

Why We Need Momentum in Life

Think of momentum in this way. Say you're riding a bike. If you pick up lots of speed early on by pedaling harder, you build up energy. This energy, known as momentum, allows you to maintain a certain speed while having to actually pedal less later on. Momentum is particularly important when you're biking uphill. It's also the key to long distance bike riding. You can do something similar with driving a car, speeding up fairly quickly then sort of coasting. This saves on fuel, too.

The beauty of concepts in physics is that the ideas can be applied in other forms. You can actually build momentum mentally and emotionally, as well. Say you have a big project coming up. It doesn't matter what it's for. If you get started on it right away, you have a much higher chance of seeing it through to completion.

Momentum Can Get You Ahead in Life and Keep You Ahead

One of the beautiful things about momentum is that you can actually conserve energy if you build it up correctly. The longer that you put off a task, the more energy you'll have to burn later to get it done. It's like you're pedaling casually, even knowing that a steep hill is coming up along your way. Once you get there, without the proper momentum, it's going to feel like you're going uphill both ways.

When you put off a project, something similar happens. You have to use a lot more energy to make up for lost time, even if there isn't a specific deadline. Sometimes that thing doesn't even get done.

So, how do we find the momentum to get something done and done well? There are a few ways to gain momentum without going overboard. If you get just the right amount of momentum in whatever you're doing, you'll find yourself not only seeing things to completion more quickly and effectively, but that momentum can carry into other things you have to do, too.

Ask Someone to Help You Get Started

It sounds like common sense to ask someone to help you with a task. But this isn't always the case. People might not think of asking for help to start on some things. But having another person or persons help you get started is the best way to pick up momentum.

Start Work at a High Energy Time

Know yourself and when you have the most energy. Trying to start something when you're feeling sluggish or not at your best is often not a great way to get the proper momentum. If you have some choice when to get started, if you do, start when you have your best energy. Then, picking up later will be a lot easier, as you already have momentum going with the task. You may not always have this choice, but when possible, keep this in mind.

Avoid Distractions Whenever Possible

One of the biggest threats to productivity is distraction. Email and phone are two of the major ones. You also want to keep your working area as clean as possible. Then again, you may be one who loves to work in chaos. But in general, get started when you can have the least amount of distraction. Distractions kill your momentum by dispersing your energy in multiple directions.

Put a Time Limit on Your Task

Even if you only have twenty or thirty minutes to dive into something, that's enough to get something at least underway. Actually, it's better to spend even just twenty minutes completely focused on a task than three or four hours of constantly being interrupted and having to keep focusing. By setting a short time limit, you can allow yourself to take short breaks without losing your momentum.

Visualize the End Result

One major hurdle to clear in making progress with a task is not keeping the end goal in mind. “When is this ever going to get done?” you may ask yourself. Even with something as mundane as sweeping the floor, visualizing the end result helps you stay focused on the task. You'll feel a lot happier when you realize the end result if you were keeping it in your mind all along. For bigger projects, visualizing the realization of your goals is especially important. One of the keys to building momentum is focusing the energy and visualization is one of the best ways of doing just that.

Being Prepared Keeps You Focused

There's nothing more frustrating than not being prepared when you're setting out to work on something. If you go to get started and you're missing just one tool or don't have all the info you need to get started. These are moments that drain momentum. Even if you have to take some extra time to get what you need set up, it's worth it to set yourself up for building the right momentum.

Whatever You Do, Just Make Sure You Get Started

It's common sense that the only way to get something done is to get started. But sometimes, you can't choose when to do something. Many times you have a certain deadline. Even when there isn't a set time, you can't get any momentum if you don't just get started. While high energy times are best for doing anything, you can only put off doing something for so long. Even if you're not at your best energy level, if it's on your mind, and you have the desire to do something, just set yourself to get started. Whatever momentum you can build is worth it.

The key to building momentum is to make progress every time you put yourself to a task. If you don't have to, don't try to finish a task all at once. There's great benefit in having the end in mind but also knowing that you don't have to finish all at once. It's very possible to spend too much energy at once and actually lose momentum.

The key to momentum is not only gaining it, but maintaining it. The trick is actually stopping when you're ahead. The gaining and maintaining of momentum is different for everyone. Your set limits and tolerance for distractions will be different than another's. But once you find a balance between energy level, desire, motivation, and momentum, you'll find yourself getting things done a lot faster and better.

"The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us." - Paul Valery, French poet and essayist. (Source)

We human beings like to know things. Oftentimes, we believe that we know more about a particular topic than we actually do. No one person can know everything about a topic. That's why you must always educate yourself.

Always try to take in new information every day. Make it a point to learn as much as you can every day, in as many different topics as you can. Having a breadth of knowledge in a wide array of fields can come quite in handy no matter what you're doing.

The French poet & essayist Paul Valery was talking about how sometimes knowledge is not exactly what we think it is. Life is full of many paradoxes, but the mere discovery of these paradoxes is not enough to truly understand what the paradox actually means. So many things in life seem to contradict each other, and there are many Catch-22 situations that exist within our society. Sometimes, it's very hard to put a finger on why exactly these paradoxes exist.

For example, you must have a college degree to get particular jobs. But to get that job, you also need prerequisite work experience that you lack from the time and effort spent to acquire that degree. If you spend all your time getting the degree, you'll most likely lack the job experience.

Of course, it's possible to try and work internships at the same time as getting a degree. Still, internships rarely pay well, if at all, and the debt incurred from most degree programs is mind-numbingly large - not to mention the burn-out factor. And you wonder why people wash out after intense programs...

Then, you have those with the work experience but no degree unable to land jobs. But even then, those with degrees can't get the jobs because they don't have the work experience. And, even those that get the jobs often have the piece of paper saying they're qualified, but then can't do the work.

This is because practical experience in most lines of work beats book knowledge any day. We’ve created a generation or two of memorizers. Critical thinking isn't taught nearly as much as it once was. It's a really messed-up paradox: you need the schooling, but with the schooling you lack the necessary experience, and vice versa.

Confusing Metaphors for Proof

Just because you read something in a book does not mean you understand something. You might know something's individual parts. But, when asked how and why they work together, you will find those that supposedly have the qualifications to know these things get stumped. They can memorize facts and figures and know how to sound intelligent when drafting papers and taking tests. But in real life applications, there are so many supposedly well-educated folks who fail. This is, of course, partly the fault of the education system for not allowing as much on-the-job training as there should be - because of that whole not having the job experience required to get the on-the-job experience.

So, what happens? You get lots of graduates getting degrees that they aren't truly qualified to have, go into the job market, and fail at doing their jobs properly. Some will eventually succeed, of course. But more often than not, they don't and find themselves job-hopping. That degree doesn't mean as much as you might think it does.

As someone who has worked in recruitment research, I know this to be absolute fact. Most of the best candidates don't have degrees or went to school a long time ago. A lot of the more recent candidates sell themselves as intelligent workers until they get to the interview. On the day of the interview, they reveal that they don’t the first thing about the job, despite trying to convince others that they know it and that they are seemingly qualified to perform at it.

Confusing a Torrent of Verbiage for a Spring of Truths

So, we get into the third part of Valery's quote: confusing "a torrent of verbiage for a spring of truths." Just because a professor might be a great orator and make things sound engaging and educational does not mean that professor knows what he or she is talking about. People like to talk, and many have the assumption that they truly do know what they're talking about.

From my own experience, I can't tell you how many teachers and professors I've had that had no true understanding of what they were actually teaching. There were also others who did, but didn't know how to teach it properly. Others seemed totally apathetic to the idea of actual teaching methods. This is why so-called “talking heads” are rarely the best sources of knowledge. Many of them are simply getting paid to talk and making people think that they're learning something and being informed.

On the Folly of Mistaking Oneself an Oracle

The last part is the saddest part: "the folly of mistaking... oneself an oracle..." Many human beings are convinced that they know all that they have to know about certain things. The way to acquire true knowledge is to question your assumptions and understand why what you know is actually what you know.

Questioning what we understand as truth is the only way that we can truly develop intellectually. Gaining knowledge through books and the like is fine. But, we have to remember how to think critically about things. People have just become information sponges due to the massive overload of information available to humanity nowadays.

The last thing you want to do is consider yourself an oracle. But it's okay if you didn't realize it. Most people don't. These follies, as Valery says, are inborn within each of us. We are all curious creatures, after all. Sometimes we mistake our own assumptions as universal truths, not bothering to question why we do it.

People like to use metaphors to sound more intelligent and like to talk and talk to make it sound like they have plenty to say. Some people do indeed use metaphors cleverly and do in fact have a lot to share. Yet, you have to be sure to ask yourself is true knowledge is coming from someone's mouth.

Valery said these things in the late 1800's, but this quote is more relevant than ever now. People need to realize these common follies. Hopefully, you can recognize these follies in those you deal with daily, as well as seeing if you commit any of them yourself. You will very likely discover most people don't know as much as they think they do. In fact, you might even discover you know more than you think!

I've always been fascinated with character studies about those who can only see the good in others, and none of the bad. Perhaps, this is because when I was younger, I always only saw the positive potential of others. I almost never understood the negatives that held them back from that potential.

Perhaps, I simply never wanted to see the negative. Surely, I was incredibly naive. But, I think it was more due to a force within me that wants to help people become the best that they can be. Yet, at the time I didn't realize that such a motivation had to mostly come from within.

In reality, one's true potential can only be realized by the self. This is something that has become painfully clear to me after years of trying to help some very poor cases. There are those that because of painful circumstances in their home lives, they never had a good chance to truly realize actual love and affection. I felt by offering these things that I would offer them a true chance to develop into the best possible people that they could have become. To the best of my knowledge, many of them went on to lead fairly mediocre lives to varying degrees. Some turned out better than others, but most I never heard from again.

I want to try and always have this sort of naive, good-natured character with only the best of intentions in my stories. I've even had a main character in a story that wants to only see the good in a man who truly acts too good to be true. That man, in fact, does turn out to be quite evil. The strange part of it is that because of her blind faith in him, he actually does fall truly in love with her.

This love that she feels for him causes a similar reaction in a once cold and dead heart almost leads to her ruin. Her love for him and his love for her, however, sadly is not enough to overcome the darkness that controls his destiny. If not for her friends, our main character would have been destroyed.

This is why it is good to have friends looking out for you! Those that know you well will hopefully cover for your weaknesses in times of peril!

Each of us constantly has to keep a balance between the good and evil within ourselves. Walking that fine line between those two is very difficult. Every day we must decide between those choices that will help and those that will hurt ourselves and others which constantly present themselves. Yes, seeing the good in others is something we can use in order to provide a support mechanism for those that need a good friend in times of need. But, it can never be allowed to blind you. Only pain can come from the failure of seeing someone you thought was good turn against you. Perhaps, it may even destroy any chance of that good potential ever being realized.

Have you ever felt like your life is getting a bit too repetitive? I've been thinking a lot lately about the "rat race" and pondering that oft-repeated quote, "Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat." The definition of the rat race,according to Wikipedia, is thus:"Arat raceis an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of lab rats racing through a maze to get the "cheese" much like society racing to get ahead financially."The term is commonly associated with an exhausting, repetitive lifestyle that leaves no time for relaxation or enjoyment."

I'm quite certain that most people don't get caught up in a "rat race" on purpose. It's easy for people to fall into routines. There's nothing wrong with going to the same job every day. But everyone needs some sort of relaxation or enjoyment. How does someone fit this into their everyday life if you're going through the same exhausting motions every day?

Each day is an experiment.

That's right. Every day is a new day in which you can try something new. The most important thing about human beings is our capacity to learn and innovate. If we don't consistently find ways to improve upon what we do, we will feel exhausted and unfulfilled.So perhaps, it's time for the "rats" to do their own experiments!Sometimes, the daily experiment you might make is something seemingly trivial. Should I switch up my breakfast this morning? Should I try a new way to get to work? There are a lot of little ways to alter our routines to try something new. While some may not, some changes just might work better than what we did before.The reason to try something new every day and experiment is pretty simple. If you keep doing the same thing over and over, you can't reasonably expect a different result. Some days are going to be better than others, of course. You'll have failed experiments. But having tried is the point. You may think that maybe not every vocation gives you much room for innovation. But truthfully, there is always some process or task that can be done just a bit better no matter what it is.By doing a little experiment every day, even if it seems outrageous at first, you expand your horizons. Sometimes all you need is just a little bit of creativity to spark something new in your life. You never know what you'll find through experiments.Keep in mind thatsome accidents turn into brilliant thingsandfailed experiments can turn into world-altering discoveries. You may not think you can change the world, but you can do a lot more than you might think. All you have to do is experiment. Just try to be safe about it!

When you have someone like me who always seems to have too much to say, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to not have plenty to say about perhaps the most life-changing event that has ever happened to me.

Back in December of 2014, I was on my deathbed with a rare cancer known as mediastinal seminoma. It was highly treatable, fortunately for me, but it was a long, dreadful struggle between the chemotherapy, the chemo's side effects, and recovery. I really wasn't myself even for up to a year after the chemo was finished. It was actually recommended that I have what was left of the tumor - dead as it was - surgically removed by my doctors in Boston. I declined the surgery, as it was essentially open heart surgery and I wasn't going to be bed-ridden for another few months. And it was too risky.

I said at the time that when it was all over I would write a book about my experiences. But I found myself asking myself, "What is there to say, really?"

That seems like an odd thing to think, doesn't it? I should have plenty to say about my experience, right? No, not really. I feel like the more that I think about it, the more that I give attention to the cancer I beat, and why should I? Why do I think this way?

Yet I lived in this fear that the cancer would just suddenly re-emerge. And it hasn't. But I've seen it come back with so many people, and just have it be a silent killer out of nowhere.

I'm a believer that the cancer happened the way that it did to wake me up and realize how precious life really is. At the time it did. But so much has happened since then. You would think that would be a story in itself. But again, what is there to say? Life happens? Yeah, pretty much. You can't let the sometimes greatly cruel randomness of life take away what's precious to you in it. That's the lesson to take away from any crappy thing that happens to you.

So what else is there to say about my battle with cancer that hasn't been said already? What unique perspective do I have to share? Why do I struggle so much to talk about it?

When I can finally answer that question, I'll let you know.

But in the meantime, I will just say this. If there's something that people keep pestering you to talk about, and you don't want to, don't give in. When the time is right, if the occasion presents itself, you will.

"There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any." - Hugh LaurieThank you, Dr. House. Actually, Hugh Laurie is a pretty cool guy. And he brings up a great point. There's really no time like the present, is there?As people who know me are well aware, I tend to do things pretty much as instantly as they come up. People wonder, why don't I wait and do things later? Why do I have to do everything at once? Well, as it turns out, doing everything at once isn't always a great idea. It turns out I'm not always so good at prioritizing things.So yeah, when you try to do too much at once, you end up not getting a lot done, huh? Here's the deal. What Hugh is talking about is "being ready." I know what he means by being "not ready." If you keep telling yourself that you're "not ready," then you'll probably never do much of anything.But yes, now is as good a time as any. We lead lives with a finite time limit. None of us know when that limit will run out. The whole idea of living on "borrowed time" isn't exactly how I would put it. But I've had close calls. I almost a truck plow into my driver's door while he was running a stop sign in the snow. I gunned the gas and barely missed him. I was on my deathbed with cancer and my only motivation to get through the hell that was chemotherapy was my amazing partner, Lyn. I've almost gone off the deep end so many times. But you know why? Because I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to give up.So yeah, the only good thing to not be ready for is give up. You just have to get out and do things. Don't overthink about how you want to put something before you put it down in writing. Nothing has to sound perfect. You know how Woody Allen said "80 percent of success is showing up." Perhaps that bit is somewhat over-quoted, but it's true. Whenever I couldn't get up and go to work anymore, that's what I told myself. And damn, I got done in a day what most people try to get done in two or more. Believe me, you're never ready for what life throws at you. Become a parent and you'll know exactly what I mean.But I'm not ready. You never really will be. And once you are, you're probably going to be old, gray, and in a nursing home. Or you're going to have two weeks to live and have to do at all at once. But as long as you are still alive, no matter how young or old, if there's something that you just feel you need to have to do, just do it. Do what it takes to make you happy. And I don't mean something that makes you lots of money. I mean something that makes you feel fulfilled. For me, that's being a parent and rambling along forever, and hope someone thinks it's cool.

And find some way to pay the bills while I do so. Hopefully, those are one in the same for you some day, as well. ;)

In August of 2014, I hit rock bottom in my life. My trading card game review website that I sunk countless hours into was getting pitiful returns. With my almost total lack of sustainable freelance work, my college loan bills were on the verge of going in default. Also, a very stressful relationship with someone I hoped would be my long-term creative partner came to a sad and frustrating end later that same month. With that, there was nothing I had to look forward to anymore. I had a goal when I left my old job in January 2013 that I would be out of my parent's house by age 28 - May 8th, 2015. But that now looked to be completely impossible.

In late August, some dear friends that I had made on a social blogging site were close to being homeless. While discussing preparations to get funding for my friends’ move, I was introduced to someone through a group chat that my friends started. It turned out that she was also in a dire situation. She'd just lost her lucrative job as a Community Manager for a major online venue, and needed to make sure her kids would still have a place to live. We were working on GoFundMe fundraisers which were going nowhere. By the middle of the month, though, it appeared that my friends were able to get a new place. So as their situation bettered, they turned to a major book project. That left me with the other new friend that I'd made, whose situation was only getting worse.

Photo credit (c) Lyn Lomasi, All Rights Reserved

My lovely new friend was a mother of four beautiful, smart, incredible children. She'd left their father a few years or so back for a number of reasons. So she and her kids have been living in two separate places for awhile. She'd met someone about a year back and they had gotten along so well that they were engaged. They were technically already common-law married but they hadn't made anything official. Still, she was doing everything she could do to get them under one roof. She continued to be faithful, trying to keep everyone together even while the family was living in separate places.

This special friend that I met has an incredible social network. But as soon as that fundraiser went up online, many of her online friends just suddenly abandoned her. It got to the point that this very well-known web writer and creative, tech-savvy mom was losing hope on ever having her own website projects work. She didn't know what to do. But I came along and told her there's no way she could give up. She still has other supplemental income to pay the bills for now. I let her know she had someone to help her with her sites. It wasn't because I had nothing better to do. I really admired her dedication to her family and her passion for her work. We also talked for hours upon hours and discovered that we pretty much agree on 99.9 percent of everything and have so many things in common.

Without actually admitting it to each other, we were falling in love. We tirelessly worked on her network (what would become our websites), even while she was working with an extremely old laptop, since her good one was in the pawn shop. Long story short, she had money to pay the bills, but it wasn't available for when she would need it due to payment cycles. So not only was she dealing with limited technology, but until very recently she was working off of Cricket 3G wireless on her phone's hot-spot. You can imagine how frustrating that was. But I stayed around for her the whole time. I wasn't giving up on someone who had enjoyed her level of success and was just going through a hard time. Things were pretty horrible for both of us financially, but we had each other.

Then we found out that we, in fact, have the same birthday, May 8th. Even though we were born nine years apart, it was then obvious why we were so much alike and so ridiculously compatible. We are both highly compassionate and generous individuals to a fault, who have been screwed over and used far more than we should be. But now we had found the perfect match. The problem was, she wasn't going to be unfaithful to the guy she was with. Fortunately, that wouldn't matter.

Finally, the guy she had gone so far out of her way for proved to be unfaithful and walked out on her. But by that point, she and I had already developed such a strong bond. Our feelings were already there, so by the time he wanted out, we'd both made up our minds anyway, even though we hadn't said so until then. He walked out at the perfect time. Soon after that, we decided that it was finally about time that we pursue the romantic feelings that had bottled up over the past couple of months and turn it into a real relationship. It was a risk, being so sudden after such a bitter end to her past relationship, but we decided to give it a go. We both wanted it.

That woman, of course, is none other than Lyn Lomasi.

Photo credit (c) Richard Rowell, All Rights Reserved

Working Towards Success

Now that we joined forces online and in life, we’ve started to focus on sustainability, for ourselves and our friends through the Write W.A.V.E Media network. If we just can find a way to make it all work, and also bring in supplemental freelance work, then we'll be happy. Then Lyn and I can really start helping people the way that we've always wanted to. Since we've met, my depression, social anxiety, and "manic attacks" have become a lot easier to deal with. Now I'll always have the greatest medicine of all: true love.

Also, while the fundraiser was nominally a failure, it did cover some rent and some other expenses. Plus, the father of her four children, who lives nearby, now has a place big enough that the kids can all stay with him together. While there are some logistical issues involved, the kids will have a place and be able to be with their father, at least. Now that the kids are in a good new place, the only real trick now is for us to be able to get a consistent enough income for Lyn and me to be able to move in together, along with at least two of the kids. To take them all back wouldn’t be fair to their father. With our combined effort, we should have no problem maintaining a place wherever we decide to go. Originally, our goal was to be moved in together by our birthday, May 8th of next year, which was, strangely enough, my original goal of being on my own. But that timetable appeared to be moving up quickly.

Now I didn’t have to go out into the world alone. I gained such an amazing partner. We can be independent together. Her family has been as accepting of me as Lyn has been. Our eventual hope is that Lyn and I's income will become such that her and I and all of her four children are under one roof, plus any children that we have together (which we plan to!) We all want to be one big happy family. It seems her kids are open to accepting me, and they will be definitely accepted by me with open arms. They’re really good kids, and Lyn has raised them well.

However, when I told my parents about Lyn, they were understandably skeptical, especially with how my other past online relationships had gone. The most recent one before had drained me very badly, but that’s because I tried to make things work with someone who was clearly wrong for me. Lyn was clearly right. But it created a very awkward situation where I felt like they were never going to accept Lyn because I met her through Facebook Messenger, despite having talked to her for endless hours on the phone and on Google Hangouts video.

With nothing but Write W.A.V.E. Media showing any promise for me and Lyn and I’s rapidly growing connection, I decided to make the best decision I have ever made in my life. I asked Lyn to marry me. She said “hell yes.”

That’s when disaster struck.

Photo credit (c) Richard Rowell, All Rights Reserved

When True Love Prevails

I had been inexplicably chronically ill since about June with a chronic cough and a seemingly endless string of sinus infections. When I went to the doctor, however, he seemed unconcerned. When the coughs became worse, my doctor diagnosed me with asthma. But by December, my health had deteriorated to the point that my “asthma” became so severe that no meds helped it. Plus I was getting fevers. Lyn kept urging me to go to the emergency room, but my stubborn ass didn’t want to go.

I finally realized that my doctor had clearly missed something and that if I was going to spend the rest of my life with Lyn, I had to take care of myself. Both Lyn and I knew something was terribly wrong. By this point, we’d arranged for Lyn to fly out to Boston. I was going to go pick her up and surprise my parents. They knew about Lyn, of course, but I wanted her appearance to be a surprise.

With Lyn’s flight due into Boston on the 16th of December, I went into Brockton Hospital’s emergency room at around 9:30 on Friday, December 12th. It was there that I discovered I didn’t have asthma at all. My primary care doctor had never bothered to do a chest x-ray when he diagnosed me with asthma. The Brockton Hospital ER nurse noticed something strange when listening to my heart and the attending physician ordered an x-ray. This seemed logical to me.

While I won’t go into all the details now, long story short, they saw something very strange on the X-ray and ordered a CAT scan. That afternoon, the doctor came in very upset and informed me that I had a huge mass inside of the left side of my chest. I was admitted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston that night, and went from the ER to the ICU. On the 14th, I was diagnosed with cancer. I would not leave the hospital until the 24th.

The good news is, Lyn still arrived on the 16th and stayed with me the rest of the time that I was in the hospital. By that point, I was moved to the oncology ward on the Beth Israel East Campus, so she was able to stay with me. It’s a very long and involved story that I will be chronicling in more detail very soon, but long story short, I would not have made it through those twelve days without having Lyn by my side.

Photo credit (c) Deborah Rowell, All Rights Reserved

When Lyn and I met in person for the first time, I almost died of a heart attack. But after only about fifteen minutes, it was like we’d always been together. After Lyn arrived, the news only got better. Not only had my cancer not spread, it was highly treatable and even curable. It would take three months of chemotherapy, but with a 95 percent chance of survival. And I had a very good reason to survive.

Those were three of the most difficult months of my life. But with the support of my amazing partner, I was able to pull through. We ended up staying in Massachusetts for six months, three for the chemo and three for recovery. At one point, surgery to remove the remaining dead tumor was on the table. But we decided that the risks were too great and that subsequent three-month follow-up appointments to check for any new growth were the better option. We finally drove cross-country in mid-May to rejoin her kids. It's been a roller-coaster ride since then, but somehow, we have found ways to make things work.

The Miracle

Lyn and I really wanted to have a baby together. But after the type of cancer that I had, and the chemotherapy, chances that I would still be fertile were slim. We decided to forgo fertility testing for me and simply try the old-fashioned way. On October 8th 2015, Lyn wasn't feeling so well. Sure enough, when we went to urgent care, it turned out she was pregnant. We made an appointment with her old OB/GYN, Dr. Johnson, soon afterward and had an ultrasound. The baby was healthy and tentatively due June 4th.

Upon sharing this news, the outpouring of support was incredible. This is my first child, and Lyn's 5th,. I'm proud to be a new father and I never could have imagined a year ago having this miracle ever come to be. To celebrate her and chronicle the events leading up to her birth, Lyn and I created a dedicated blog page just for her right after we had decided on her name. It's called The Nova Skye Story.

After a long and tumultuous pregnancy, and a rather scary birth story, Nova Skye Rowell was born healthy and happy at 11:20pm on June 2nd, 2016 at Rose Medical Center in Denver, CO. She has been such a blessing, a perfect little baby. Nova has fulfilled my lifelong dream of becoming a father, something that I never thought would be possible for so many reasons. The Nova Skye Story will continue to tell her story.

I hope our story helps you realize that you just need to really look at the good things in life. That's where you draw your positive energy from. That's what you need to focus on. The ability to make positive things come out of negative situations is what makes us human. Overcome the evil, embrace the positive, and be part of the change our society needs. You never know who you will meet that will help you change the world.

“One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” - Nikola Tesla

Have you ever thought too deeply about something? I certainly have. Doing so can drive you mad. Sometimes you have to learn to step away from things before you can make any real progress.

As Nikola Tesla said, thinking deeply and thinking clearly are definitely not the same thing. I could also bring up Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Look at how many storybook villains work so hard, but forever fruitlessly, towards an impossible goal. You can't blame them for not thinking deeply and being persistent. But, clarity of thought certainly isn't in their repertoire. It's tragic, really.

Personally, I prefer villains who can in fact think clearly. Those tend to be the most dangerous and fascinating ones for me. Exercises in futility get tiresome for me after awhile.

Sadly enough, real life people exercise futility far too often. I most certainly am guilty of exercising insane levels of futility. If you start thinking too deeply about something that can unfortunately mess you up fairly badly.

If you start finding your thinking derailing, take a break. No matter how urgent something might be, take what time you can. You're better off finding a moment of clarity than sinking into hours of deep thought that could just send you down a deep dark tunnel of insanity.

Back when Tesla first said this quote, he felt that the scientists of his day were thinking more deeply than clearly. With how many “experts” and highly specialized fields we have today, it’s easier than ever to think a bit too deeply about something. It’s easy when studying something too closely to lose perspective. He's still right and this advice is still very good.

Clear thinking is the best way to go. If you find yourself lost in thought, then perhaps you’ve been on that track a bit too long. Shift gears, then come back with a clearer head. You and your exploits will be better off for it.

For years, I wore my heart on my sleeve and it was obvious when I was having a bad day. It didn't seem to be worth the energy to even bother to hide how I really felt. But it made people become quite leery of me, like I was a ticking time bomb about to explode. Still, I tried pretending to be happy when I very much wasn't.

I was very frustrated about my lack of progress in my life and my career for a long time. That's why I quit my old job. I couldn't move up anymore. I was stuck and it wasn't worth staying put for the wage I was making, not when I was that miserable. My own mental health finally meant a lot more than the job to me. But it took a lot of courage to admit that.

Still, it was only recently that I realized that there is a huge difference between pretending to be happy and staying positive. They are not the same thing. You have to admit things suck. You have to accept reality, but also understand that only you can change your own reality. This is something that is very hard for people to understand.

Many of people seem to think that their lives are almost entirely at the whims of other people. There's also a prevalent belief that some people simply are born with good luck, while others are just seemingly destined for mediocrity, or worse, abject failure. I don't think a lot of people consciously think this, but it certainly seems that this is how a lot of people end up feeling. Most people are content with mediocrity because they can only think of worse, and can't seem to imagine things being any better.

Dealing with Negativity

That's where actually being positive comes in. I have dealt with tons of negative thoughts day in and day out. But I have a lot for which to be thankful. I've had a very supportive family. I have a roof over my head, good food to eat, and electricity. Most importantly, I have internet access - which is vital for everything that I do.

I also have a few extremely good friends, but I'm very shy and all but a couple are only online. I also have an amazing and supportive partner in Lyn Lomasi. I count my blessings. I focus on the good things and work to have more good things.

But you still have accept your reality. I have serious issues with depression and social anxiety. The latter, believe it or not, is probably the more limiting one. I can usually fight through my depression. I often have to expend great amounts of energy to build up enough positive energy to barrel through it, but I can do it.

Medicines have never worked for me. They might even me out for a bit, but I usually end up with a really bad reaction. The last one I was on made me jittery. Then, there were days where I was so high-strung I'm pretty sure people around me wanted to hang me. So I just cut medicine out of my life. I've accepted that I have some serious imbalances inside of my head, and I've learned to live with them.

However, I will never accept using those as a crutch. I'm not going to go and take evaluations to try and get disability for my "conditions." I would be giving in to the very things that hold me back some days. Believe it or not, it's not always depression and social anxiety holding me back. They don't help and they flush some days straight down the toilet. It's a lack of self-confidence.

Why's that? Every single time, with one single exception, everything I have ever tried to do has failed, some of them quite miserably. Then again, that one exception led to me meeting Lyn, so that was a really good one. Goes to show how staying positive and keeping yourself going even in the face of a lot of negativity can pay off!

Focus on the Positive Things

So what actually is the actual difference between pretending to be happy and actually staying positive? It's about focusing on the positive things: the good people in your life, the things you enjoy, the places you want to go, and the things you want to live to do. You accept that there are circumstances and limitations often out of your control. However, you have to do what you can.

Yes, some people can do a great quantity of work more than you can. But you might be surprised if you give something you love you all, something that you're passionate about. When you focus on that, you'll accomplish more in a day than most people today accomplish in a week. In the end, it's about the quality, anyway, not the quantity.

It's amazing how many people work incredibly mundane and uneventful jobs and come home and really do absolutely nothing. It's also amazing how many people work really lousy jobs with terrible employers and working conditions and still manage to find time to raise their families and somehow keep on. You know what the difference is? Staying positive - accepting the situation but focusing on the good things that are worth living for.

Yes, it is possible to accept a bad situation for what it is - but you make the most of it. Simply pretending by forcing a smile on your face, then breaking down completely at home really isn't how to go about things. It may take some creativity and a little bit of help from friends and family, but it's possible to always find a positive aspect to some really sucky situation. Nothing is really impossible, only highly improbable.

The trick is to not pretend to be positive, but work positively. If you are truly negative, you need to understand what is making you negative and work towards turning yourself to more positive and productive thinking. As long as you pretend, you're not doing yourself or anyone else any favors. Having a positive outlook cannot be faked.

You must dedicate yourself to it and live with the idea in mind to always be moving one step ahead. If you focus on that, you'll find that you'll make progress in anything and everything you do. Just be patient and always stay positive. That's how I do it every day.

Tim Taylor on the 90's sitcom Home Improvement really liked to give things more power. One of the main running gags of that sitcom was that Tim Allen's character was always finding things around the house to give more power. He always succeeded in providing the power. Unfortunately, it also usually blew up in his face in rather comical ways.

While I always enjoyed that show, it never really occurred to me to write about it. I’m not sure why I suddenly have the desire to now. But, recently, I’ve wanted to give a lot of things in my life more power.

Specifically, I’ve always wanted to give my words all the power that they can possibly have. But I become frustrated when I try to power my words out there. It seems like endless social media promotion is the only way to do that. Then again, is it about powering your words out there? Shouldn't it be the power of the words themselves that matters the most?

What does it mean to actually give something more power? It’s not always about being “bigger” or “better.” It's about giving something a better function, the most perfect function, as a philosopher may put it. Sure, it's possible to overpower things. Actually, it's done far too often with today’s media. There are too many examples to list.

Popular culture is often shoved down our throats day in and day out if we deal with any mass media at all. The last thing I want to do is just try to force something out. I want people to organically consume it. But, of course, this isn’t good enough for a lot of people. Who wants to sit there and wait to be read?

In my opinion, it’s better to have a handful of dedicated readers than a whole mess of merely curious ones. Of course, I want as many eyeballs as possible on my work. But it’s incredibly common to see people over-stuff and overpower their websites with all sorts of affiliations and advertisements. Then, they overwhelm people with more content than they can realistically consume in one day. It all depends on the audience, of course.

Still, the last thing I want to do is just get thousands of views, just because a post went viral on some social media site. Then, I get nothing ever again. I’m more interested in providing lasting value. "Evergreen” content is good, but I want to have something more than that.

The sort of power that I seek is staying power. In today’s world, it seems that people are going by a strategy of live fast and die hard. Tim Taylor sort of did this by just shoving as much power as you possibly could into an ordinary device. Of course, that most often led to some hilarious mishaps. Certain things have been set to particular power levels for good reason, of course.

But some people are going to tweak, and that’s not a bad thing, of course. Innovation is good. But giving something “more power” for the sake of making it have an immediate explosive impact is not always the best idea. Eventually, this sort of strategy is going to burn out.

So, the only power I seek is staying power. How does one gain this staying power? Just do what you do best and do it the best way you can. In my case, I will give my own writing staying power just by writing it. Then I'll softly promote it to my various social channels and link to it when I feel there’s a timely need for it. I don't see the benefit of pushing things out hard and fast unless there is a desperate need at that moment.

Many of us as writers put all our strength and energy behind pushing content out and pulling hard to reel in visitors. I’m just going to write my piece and let those that will come. Come whatever may, my words have the power that they have. You, the readers, can decide for yourselves what power they have for you.

In the end, the most important thing is to share what you have in a way that benefits others. Actions taken to help others go a long way. I want my words to help others think and grow. That's how I will give them more lasting power.

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." - Arthur Ashe

The late Arthur Ashe was the first African American to participate in international pro tennis. It is deceptively simple wisdom, and it sounds like common sense. You can only start where you are. You can only use what you have. And believe it or not, you can only do what you can. Considering how he spent his 49 years on this earth, we can learn much from his example.

Your Starting Point Should Be Your Advantage

Many people complain about their standing in life, and continue to complain about it until they’re blue in the face. Of course, there are still others that brag about their position in life as a birthright. Embracing where you come from and taking it into account in deciding what it will take to get to the next level is important.

You can’t change where you start. But, you change where you will go going forward. Each of us starts with certain advantages and disadvantages no matter our status. It’s important to understand that there are advantages - and disadvantages - to every starting point. Identifying those are an important step in beginning any endeavor.

In Arthur Ashe’s case, he started from what was considered a position of disadvantage. But he turned that disadvantage into an advantage in the end. He used his standing as an African American to a definite advantage. As the only black man to ever win Wimbledon, Ashe brought awareness to extremely important social issues, such as poverty and racial stereotyping. Beyond tennis, he became a prominent speaker. So, while he did start at a disadvantage in the eyes of society, he actually used this starting place. Ashe launched both a successful tennis career and another as a social activist.

Identifying the Skills You Need to Follow Your Passions

When it comes to using what you have, you will need to take your passions and build the skills necessary to succeed at the highest level at those things. It’s really best to focus yourself on only one or two things and not overwhelm yourself. In the meantime, you can brush up on complimentary skills in any number of other areas.

No skill that is learned or mastered is wasted effort. It can be surprising how a wide breadth of skills does far more than just give you stuff to list on a resume. Knowledge is applicable in ways you would never expect.

Say your dream is to be a baseball player. Obviously, there are talents needed to play baseball at a high level. These include hand-eye coordination and physical flexibility. It’s best to identify what skills you are best at, whether you’re more talented with the bat or with the glove or with the ball in your hand. That’s how coaches eventually figure out a player’s “natural” position.

But it’s still best to try playing everywhere you can. Diversifying your skill set only makes you a better player in the long run. And versatility makes you more valuable in so many ways.

Talent is not everything. Just like it’s good to try out all the different positions in baseball, diversifying your activities helps you become a well-rounded person. For example, playing a completely different sport could teach you training methods that you wouldn't ever connect to baseball. However, those methods may enhance the skills that you already have excelled in.

You can also study how coaches from all sorts of sports motivate (or demotivate) other players. This can help you to understand what motivational methods work best for you. These you may later use to help motivate your teammates and peers, as well. Turn your passion into something that can do a lot of good for others. This is the best way to build the skills to help you succeed, as well.

You Can Only Do What You Can

This is the most important part. Yes, you really can only do what you really can. It is a sad truth for many aspiring ballplayers that you may find that you don’t have the physical skills necessary. Not everyone can rise to the highest level like Ashe did in his sport. Sometimes, determination and hard practice can help you to overcome physical limitations. But if you can’t perform, then you can’t.

Yes, even the best will have your off-days. Sometimes you just have to remember that you need to just use your yesterdays as learning experiences, and not burdens to be treated as baggage. But, eventually, you may find you're not getting better as a player. You need to not waste your time trying to improve at something you’re not able to. Recognizing that is the hardest part. Sometimes, it is for the better.

How can failing at your life dream actually be for the better? What you do is find something related to your passion. In the case of baseball, this could include working in a baseball front office. It could be working in sports marketing, or perhaps sports writing. You then take all you've learned through your failures and successes. Share those experiences and those skills you worked on to help others. That’s how you get coaches. And there’s nothing better in life than helping to coach others. You can be a coach in anything, believe it or not.

Arthur Ashe used his relatively short life to great advantage. He really did all he could. I could write an entire profile about him, but the obituary of him written by Robin Finn tells his story well as it can be told. Read it here on the New York Times Website.

The Takeaway

In anything that you do, make sure that you are always growing and refining your skills. Someday you may find yourself in a position to mentor others in whatever your passions are. By helping others that share your passions, you will find that your own passions will grow, as well. Just remember to turn your disadvantage into advantages and any advantages into advantages for not only yourself, but everyone around you.

Recently, a friend of mine offered up a very interesting idea about human relationships. He said we should focus on where we agree with others, rather than where we disagree. Obviously, this is a very good concept to think about. It should be the basis of any good diplomacy and at the heart of maintaining any relationship, whether it's platonic, professional, romantic or otherwise.

It's important to be diplomatic with people, especially nowadays when drama and conflict are abound in everyday life. Sometimes it seems that said conflicts can emerge out of simple misunderstandings. These add an unnecessary negative sort of "excitement" to our lives. People will argue over some of the most trivial things. This is often because we spend a lot more time focusing on one another's differences than our similarities. Much of the time we don't even catch ourselves doing it, which is a problem.

Finding Common Ground

I have always found that the best thing to do when trying to start any sort of relationship is to find something in common. It doesn't matter how small that thing might be. In any sort of diplomatic situation, you have to find common ground. So starting off a relationship on the right foot has to always be about finding common threads. It's surprising how one or two common threads can lead to weaving a tapestry far more intricate than you may have imagined at first meeting.

Unfortunately, too many people tend to stay within certain boundaries. There seem to be more social boundaries now than ever and cliques are forming at an exponential rate. But even among them, there are splinter groups that get into loud and often ugly conflicts with one another. How has this happened? It turns out that focusing on where you ONLY agree and not paying attention to where you disagree is in fact the root of the problem.

What Does it Really Mean for People to Be Compatible?

We hear all this talk about compatibility factors and looking to the stars for answers in both our platonic and romantic lives. But there are only two compatibility factors that matter to me. One is how well you focus on similarities with your friends and partners. The other is how well you cope or learn to "agree to disagree" about your differences with them.

But, I'm not sure "agree to disagree" is always the best policy, either. You need to understand the roots of certain differences. Otherwise, these can lead to some ugly misunderstandings or major miscommunications later. You always want to understand the root causes of why people may think differently than you. Or, try to help others understand your perspective. If there isn't that connection of understanding, there will be trouble down the road. It will not be pleasant for either party, or those parties involved with those affected.

Shared Interests and Hobbies are Good, But They Can't Be Everything

We should have individually-based relationships that are built through mutual understanding and diplomatic agreement. Relationships should not be simply based only around specific activities or interests. In my personal experience, sometimes certain activities or interests are just no longer important to a person. Those people that related with that individual around just those things can suddenly drop away.

Emotional connections should not be based solely around hobbies or interests. It's especially true with those that may not realistically be life-long endeavors. Unfortunately, many people have many friends that they have only because of these activities. If they have some need to move away or those activities are no longer possible, those people can find themselves incredibly lonely. No one wants that, especially as someone who has experienced just that.

Don't Let People Make Arbitrary Judgments For You

While I could go on about how certain groups will assign labels to their cliques or affiliations, this is not really what I'm trying to get at. In fact, I'm trying to promote the exact opposite. We should NOT affiliate ourselves based on arbitrary decisions made by groups.

I believe in our lives that we should build connections based around values and experiences rather than things based in the moment. While we can share memories and activities, we need to have deeper connections than this. Human beings cannot simply plug and unplug the way that you might a game system or a computer. Once connections are broken at times, there is a definite sense of loss.

Spheres of Influence Are Often Completely Out of Your Control, So Don't Let Them Control You

But of course, that loss is always worse for those people on the edge of those spheres of influence that they once belonged to. In there lies the problem that I see with many social groups today. There are spheres of influences that try to steal away individualism for the sake of imagined unity.

Then, whenever there is a split within those spheres of influences, there are a lot of people that end up disappearing completely from the scene. These fractured relationships are usually over stupid little arguments or trivial things. I've lost far too many acquaintances in that way, and a few good friends, as well. Sometimes, I don't even know how I contributed to it. Most likely, I never did at all.

Because of the tensions and conflicts that can exist in many social groups, I have long tended to float around the outside of those spheres. This is why I prefer one-on-one communication far more than being in any sort of group. I just want to be me and I don't want to conform to anything that is expected from a sphere of influence.

Especially these days, once people enter certain spheres they find themselves limited by simply what binds them together. Say for example, you got together with a group of people to watch a particular TV show. Say that show is cancelled and suddenly, you find that your so-called group of friends starts bickering over what show to watch now.

Now you can see how even when people find things in common, it's not the be-all end-all. You have to always find connections BEYOND what brings you together. Otherwise, you will only end up with disagreement, sometimes disagreements that cannot be overcome.

If You Agree to Disagree, Then Understand Why

Yes, you do need to focus on where you agree with others but you ALSO have to focus on where you disagree as well. You need to deal with the more uncomfortable things that can become major points of contention and conflict later. Otherwise, you'll find that your relationships will suffer badly from that lack of understanding as time goes on.

But people hate to be pushed outside of their comfort zones. This is especially true with how easy it is to distract one another with entertainment and the countless other hobbies that people gravitate towards. Human beings require emotional attachments beyond those sorts of things, however. They need to be activities that can be done anywhere. Things that can create stronger connections include causes, shared tasks, and common life goals.

The stronger a connection that you build with someone, the better chance that you will have of overcoming disagreements. So it's not simply enough to "agree to disagree" with people if you want to have truly lasting relationships. All you will end up with is awkwardness or a painful disassociation that could avoided with a simple conversation. A little awkwardness now will go a long way towards having a much more successful and happy relationship later.

I would urge everyone to see all that you have in common with those that you know and embrace and nurture those connections. However, also I urge everyone to recognize and try to negotiate with the differences that you see in those associate with. Try to be diplomatic and come to a better understanding of perspectives and experiences. You may find that both parties will take away a positive, educational experience from these conversations. You can't ever have nothing but positive without making sure that the negative does not build out of control.

Nowadays, there is much negative energy abound that you must be sure that you do not fall victim to it. Always keep a positive outlook but never avoid situations that may be uncomfortable due to disagreement. In resolving these disagreements, you may find some of the best true friends you could have hoped to find.

Confidence, when it is born of humility, grace, and tireless diligence, is the greatest quality any human being can have. That is the truest beauty.

The idea of beauty is often hotly debated in the media, especially when it comes to things like Photo Shopping and body shaming. But, the deeper issue is that natural beauty is not being appreciated in the ways that it once was. We live in a society where products are the basis of “beauty” and “healthy” living when they are in fact promoting just the opposite – vanity without substance.

Humility and Confidence

True beauty comes from within a person. But, it’s not as simple as just being friendly and doing good deeds. It’s three things – humility, grace, and tireless diligence – that are my favorite qualities in two of my favorite people. Confidence should be borne of these three qualities, which I call the True Beauty Trio.

By humility, I mean being modest and respectful to others without trying to impose one’s own beliefs on others. This doesn’t mean having to always be self-effacing or submissive. This does, of course, mean that one should never shy away from admitting mistakes and taking responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions. It also means doing things for the right reasons and never just for the sake of accomplishment.

Grace and Confidence

There are a couple of definitions by which I could mean grace, but I’m not sure either of them quite fits. The first would be “simple elegance or refinement of movement.” The other would be, in Christian belief, “the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.”

Neither of those definitions really explains what I mean. However, the simple elegance or refinement of one’s actions and not simply their physical movements could be considered a sort of undefined grace. The latter definition has more of a religious context that would deserve its own analysis, entirely, and does not apply to my thesis here.

Diligence and Confidence

The final piece of that True Beauty Trio is tireless diligence. That one is extremely straightforward: never stop working, but do it carefully and persistently. This industriousness, to me, is an extremely sexy quality in a person. When you know someone is always going to be working in the best interests of those he or she loves, that is extremely comforting and reassuring to know that you are in their life.

The greatest and most beautiful people in this world are those that never stop working. They also know how to choose their battles and keep at it no matter what the situation or at whatever cost, without losing focus of the end goals. The best case is to help as many people as possible while also finding a way to earn a living.

Confidence and True Beauty

So, when one’s confidence is informed by these qualities of modest and respectful humility, grace in action, and tireless diligence, you get the True Beauty Trio. There are no physical attributes in this definition of true beauty, because these internal qualities in a person are what make that person beautiful, not their external features.

We should realize that this sort of confidence makes the most attractive sort of person. We must learn to love and respect these people as true leaders-by-example and not simply there to push around and try to take advantage of. Then, we’ll all be a lot better off and a lot happier about ourselves.

Deep down inside, if we try and reshape our lives by the True Beauty Trio, we will be all far more confident. But this will be in the best possible way, and not the way that the media wants to portray so-called “beauty” in its plastic “glory.” We’ll be the beautiful people, the ones who will make the change and set things going in the right direction once again.

If I could have one superpower, it would be the power of flight. There are places I wish I could go, but can’t get to because of the costs of transportation. If I could fly, I would go so many places. I want to get out into the world and help people everywhere.

Flying under my own power would make traveling a heck of a lot easier. Every mode of transportation has its flaws. Being able to fly under my own power would allow me to go wherever I want, whenever I want without the hassle of using roads or any other sort of public transportation. I wouldn’t have to pay for gas or fare, either.

Flying has always been a dream for me. The funny thing is I’ve never actually flown in my life. But I’m pretty sure I know what it’s like. I can recall myself dreaming many times of jumping off a place of great heights and feeling the air under me take me a great distance. I somehow every time either land relatively safely, or I wake up horrified of great heights.

That’s one problem with flying. I’m terrified by heights. But I’d do my very, very best to overcome that fear if I really could fly. I think many people are terrified by flying. People are very attached to terra firma. But sometimes, here on the ground, you can’t see the whole picture. One of the great things about flying is that you can see a long, long way around you. I want to see the world, and me being able to fly is the only way I’d ever see it all in a lifetime.

I’ve long dreamed of being able to fly around the world and help everyone that I can. I’m a very compassionate person at heart, and I want to help whoever I can. The ability to fly would make that job a lot easier and I’d be able to help a far greater number of people. They say it’s a small world, but the Earth’s really quite a huge place. It’s impossible to say you’ve been everywhere around it. It just isn’t humanly possible.

It’s true that commercial flights have really made our world virtually smaller. It’s so much easier to travel great distances. But the airlines don’t always provide the destinations you really want to go. If I could fly under my own power, I’d go to the far corners of the earth.

Sure, I’d probably have my share of rescuing cats from trees, and I’d probably wave to passing planes. I wouldn’t just use my power to have fun with it though. Superpowers are not made to be wasted. They are meant to be used for the greater good.

Though ordinary everyday people don’t seem to have superpowers as we’d like to think of them, each and everybody has special and unique talents they can share with the world to try and make it a better place. We are each given special abilities, and they are meant to be used to help our fellow human beings and to make the best we can of this world.

We can dream of super powers. Super powers would certainly make things a lot easier, but you can’t trust everyone with super powers. Some people aren’t responsible enough to use them. It’s just the truth. But human beings are not weak. It’s all about using what you have the best you possibly can.

We’ve always looked up to fictional heroes with all sorts of super powers. But heroes don’t need flashy superpowers to be heroes. Kind hearts and compassionate souls are the best heroes you can possibly have. Your family and your friends are heroes often times are people you don’t even recognize as heroes. Everybody has someone they consider a hero, though they may not realize that.

As nice as it would be, I don’t need any superpowers to do good. I know I have talents and abilities that I can use to make a lot of good in the world. It certainly would, however, be a grand thing if I could fly.

The thing is, I don’t know if I’d ever want to walk again. We can dream. And even though we don’t have super powers, and we’re all just human, we can all be superheroes in our communities, in our own little corner of the world if we put enough energy into it. Still, it’d be awesome to literally swoop in and save the day, wouldn’t it? I think walking in and saving the day has pretty much the same effect.

You don’t have to be flashy to do good. In fact, maybe that’s the best way to do good, quietly and discretely as possible. I could swoop in from a distance, help out, and quietly take off again. Hey, it’s a great dream to have. There’s nothing like an imagination. And when you help people often enough, you’ll feel like a hero. Whether or not you can actually fly, you’ll feel like you can!

There are so many things that I simply do not remember well. There are a lot of good memories that I try to recall that, for whatever reason, I can't recall certain details, and it drives me crazy. The bad stuff always sticks more in your memory, and I've always hated that bit about the human mind.

What I do seem to remember very well, though, is my creative stuff. I can remember characters, stories, and situations that I came up with when I was five or six years old. In fact, I still use elements from my early childhood creative efforts in my creative work today.

But, one of the reasons I rarely write auto-biographically is that my short-term memory is usually really bad. Also, my long-term memory is colored often with certain lenses that don't allow me to see certain memories very clearly. There are plenty of auto-biographical things I would like to share, but because of my lack of good memory, they would be closer to fiction than truth. Therefore, they would simply be creative writing and not what I'm actually aiming for. And, for whatever reason, I feel that I'm doing a disservice to truth by taking the artistic license that I would inevitably take.

I am constantly growing as a writer. Still, I've never been that comfortable with talking about myself. That is something I seem to be out-growing, fortunately. However, if I try to write something auto-biographical, it becomes merely a work of fiction with the names changed to protect the innocents and very much altered for the purpose of entertainment. I am not a historian. I learned that a long time ago. I love to exaggerate far too often, sometimes too often for my own good.

I also tend to ramble, and with that, I will close only with this: The imperfection of memory is probably both the best thing and worst thing about being human.

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." - Eleanor Roosevelt (source)

So many days I've awoken with worries. I then get stuck on those worries, and they drag me down. I think about past failures. But even thinking that I'm simply reflecting on them and trying to learn from them, I find myself still thinking about them. As I've learned, the more that you think about failure, the more that you end up dooming yourself to fail.

Therefore, it's important every morning to look forward. Think about your dreams and set goals. This is how I turned myself around after years of wallowing in depression. You have to visualize the steps you need to take towards your goals. Then, take one step at a time.

Don't try to take a bunch of big steps all at once. You will fall some times. But with each new day, there's always a chance to take that next step! This is the best way to work towards reaching your dreams! It's working for me. I'm sure it will work for you, too!

We also strive to one day cuddle with lions and giraffes. Until then, we’ll settle for furry rescue kitties and doggies.

We support many causes via our business ventures, such as homelessness, support for trans youth, equality, helping starving artists, and more! A portion of all proceeds from Intent-sive Nature goes toward helping homeless pets in local shelters.